The Tragedy of Julius Caesar/Act I
ACT I. SCENE I. Rome. A street. Flavius, Marullus, and a Throng of Citizens. FLAVIUS. :Hence! home, you idle creatures, get you home! :Is this a holiday? What! know you not, :Being mechanical, you ought not walk :Upon a laboring day without the sign :Of your profession?—Speak, what trade art thou? FIRST CITIZEN. :Why, sir, a carpenter. MARULLUS. :Where is thy leather apron and thy rule? :What dost thou with thy best apparel on?— :You, sir; what trade are you? SECOND CITIZEN. :Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but, as you :would say, a cobbler. MARULLUS. :But what trade art thou? Answer me directly. SECOND CITIZEN. :A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe :conscience, which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles. MARULLUS. :What trade, thou knave? Thou naughty knave, what trade? SECOND CITIZEN. :Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me; yet, :if you be out, sir, I can mend you. MARULLUS. :What mean'st thou by that? Mend me, thou saucy fellow! SECOND CITIZEN. :Why, sir, cobble you. FLAVIUS. :Thou art a cobbler, art thou? SECOND CITIZEN. :Truly, Sir, all that I live by is with the awl; I meddle with :no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl. :I am indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in :great danger, I re-cover them. As proper men as ever trod upon :neat's-leather have gone upon my handiwork. FLAVIUS. :But wherefore art not in thy shop today? :Why dost thou lead these men about the streets? SECOND CITIZEN. :Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes to get myself into more :work. But indeed, sir, we make holiday to see Caesar and to :rejoice in his triumph. MARULLUS. :Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home? :What tributaries follow him to Rome, :To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels? :You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things! :O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, :Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft :Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements, :To towers and windows, yea, to chimney tops, :Your infants in your arms, and there have sat :The livelong day with patient expectation :To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome. :And when you saw his chariot but appear, :Have you not made an universal shout :That Tiber trembled underneath her banks :To hear the replication of your sounds :Made in her concave shores? :And do you now put on your best attire? :And do you now cull out a holiday? :And do you now strew flowers in his way :That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood? :Be gone! :Run to your houses, fall upon your knees, :Pray to the gods to intermit the plague :That needs must light on this ingratitude. FLAVIUS. :Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault, :Assemble all the poor men of your sort, :Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears :Into the channel, till the lowest stream :Do kiss the most exalted shores of all. CITIZENS. See whether their basest metal be not moved; :They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness. :Go you down that way towards the Capitol; :This way will I. Disrobe the images, :If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies. MARULLUS. :May we do so? :You know it is the feast of Lupercal. FLAVIUS. :It is no matter; let no images :Be hung with Caesar's trophies. I'll about :And drive away the vulgar from the streets; :So do you too, where you perceive them thick. :These growing feathers pluck'd from Caesar's wing :Will make him fly an ordinary pitch, :Who else would soar above the view of men, :And keep us all in servile fearfulness. Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. A public place. in procession, with music, Caesar; Antony, for the course; Calpurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, and Casca; a great crowd following, among them a Soothsayer. CAESAR. :Calpurnia,— CASCA. :Peace, ho! Caesar speaks. ceases. CAESAR. :Calpurnia,— CALPURNIA. :Here, my lord. CAESAR. :Stand you directly in Antonius' way, :When he doth run his course.—Antonius,— ANTONY. :Caesar, my lord? CAESAR. :Forget not in your speed, Antonius, :To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say, :The barren, touched in this holy chase, :Shake off their sterile curse. ANTONY. :I shall remember. :When Caesar says "Do this," it is perform'd. CAESAR. :Set on; and leave no ceremony out. Music. SOOTHSAYER. :Caesar! CAESAR. :Ha! Who calls? CASCA. :Bid every noise be still.—Peace yet again! ceases. CAESAR. :Who is it in the press that calls on me? :I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, :Cry "Caesar"! Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear. SOOTHSAYER. :Beware the Ides of March. CAESAR. :What man is that? BRUTUS. :A soothsayer bids you beware the Ides of March. CAESAR. :Set him before me; let me see his face. CASSIUS. :Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar. CAESAR. :What say'st thou to me now? Speak once again. SOOTHSAYER. :Beware the Ides of March. CAESAR. :He is a dreamer; let us leave him. Pass. Exeunt all but BRUTUS and CASSIUS. CASSIUS. :Will you go see the order of the course? BRUTUS. :Not I. CASSIUS. :I pray you, do. BRUTUS. :I am not gamesome; I do lack some part :Of that quick spirit that is in Antony. :Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires; :I'll leave you. CASSIUS. :Brutus, I do observe you now of late: :I have not from your eyes that gentleness :And show of love as I was wont to have: :You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand :Over your friend that loves you. BRUTUS. :Cassius, :Be not deceived: if I have veil'd my look, :I turn the trouble of my countenance :Merely upon myself. Vexed I am :Of late with passions of some difference, :Conceptions only proper to myself, :Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviors; :But let not therefore my good friends be grieved— :Among which number, Cassius, be you one— :Nor construe any further my neglect, :Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war, :Forgets the shows of love to other men. CASSIUS. :Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion; :By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried :Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations. :Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face? BRUTUS. :No, Cassius, for the eye sees not itself :But by reflection, by some other thing. CASSIUS. :'Tis just: :And it is very much lamented, Brutus, :That you have no such mirrors as will turn :Your hidden worthiness into your eye, :That you might see your shadow. I have heard :Where many of the best respect in Rome,— :Except immortal Caesar!— speaking of Brutus, :And groaning underneath this age's yoke, :Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes. BRUTUS. :Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, :That you would have me seek into myself :For that which is not in me? CASSIUS. :Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear; :And since you know you cannot see yourself :So well as by reflection, I, your glass, :Will modestly discover to yourself :That of yourself which you yet know not of. :And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus; :Were I a common laugher, or did use :To stale with ordinary oaths my love :To every new protester; if you know :That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard :And after scandal them; or if you know :That I profess myself, in banqueting, :To all the rout, then hold me dangerous. and shout. BRUTUS. :What means this shouting? I do fear the people :Choose Caesar for their king. CASSIUS. :Ay, do you fear it? :Then must I think you would not have it so. BRUTUS. :I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well, :But wherefore do you hold me here so long? :What is it that you would impart to me? :If it be aught toward the general good, :Set honor in one eye and death i' the other :And I will look on both indifferently; :For let the gods so speed me as I love :The name of honor more than I fear death. CASSIUS. :I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, :As well as I do know your outward favor. :Well, honor is the subject of my story. :I cannot tell what you and other men :Think of this life; but, for my single self, :I had as lief not be as live to be :In awe of such a thing as I myself. :I was born free as Caesar; so were you: :We both have fed as well; and we can both :Endure the winter's cold as well as he: :For once, upon a raw and gusty day, :The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, :Caesar said to me, "Darest thou, Cassius, now :Leap in with me into this angry flood :And swim to yonder point?" Upon the word, :Accoutred as I was, I plunged in, :And bade him follow: so indeed he did. :The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it :With lusty sinews, throwing it aside :And stemming it with hearts of controversy; :But ere we could arrive the point proposed, :Caesar cried, "Help me, Cassius, or I sink! :I, as Aeneas, our great ancestor, :Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder :The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber :Did I the tired Caesar: and this man :Is now become a god; and Cassius is :A wretched creature, and must bend his body, :If Caesar carelessly but nod on him. :He had a fever when he was in Spain; :And when the fit was on him I did mark :How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake: :His coward lips did from their color fly; :And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world :Did lose his luster. I did hear him groan: :Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans :Mark him, and write his speeches in their books, :Alas, it cried, "Give me some drink, Titinius," :As a sick girl.—Ye gods, it doth amaze me, :A man of such a feeble temper should :So get the start of the majestic world, :And bear the palm alone. Flourish. BRUTUS. :Another general shout! :I do believe that these applauses are :For some new honors that are heap'd on Caesar. CASSIUS. :Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world :Like a Colossus; and we petty men :Walk under his huge legs and peep about :To find ourselves dishonorable graves. :Men at some time are masters of their fates: :The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, :But in ourselves,that we are underlings. :"Brutus" and "Caesar": what should be in that "Caesar"? :Why should that name be sounded more than yours? :Write them together, yours is as fair a name; :Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; :Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with them, :"Brutus" will start a spirit as soon as "Caesar." :Now, in the names of all the gods at once, :Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed :That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed! :Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods! :When went there by an age since the great flood, :But it was famed with more than with one man? :When could they say, till now, that talk'd of Rome, :That her wide walls encompass'd but one man? :Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough, :When there is in it but one only man. :O, you and I have heard our fathers say :There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd :Th' eternal devil to keep his state in Rome, :As easily as a king! BRUTUS. :That you do love me, I am nothing jealous; :What you would work me to, I have some aim: :How I have thought of this, and of these times, :I shall recount hereafter; for this present, :I would not, so with love I might entreat you, :Be any further moved. What you have said, :I will consider; what you have to say, :I will with patience hear; and find a time :Both meet to hear and answer such high things. :Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this: :Brutus had rather be a villager :Than to repute himself a son of Rome :Under these hard conditions as this time :Is like to lay upon us. CASSIUS. :I am glad that my weak words :Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus. BRUTUS. :The games are done, and Caesar is returning. CASSIUS. :As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve; :And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you :What hath proceeded worthy note today. Caesar and his Train. BRUTUS. :I will do so.—But, look you, Cassius, :The angry spot doth glow on Caesar's brow, :And all the rest look like a chidden train: :Calpurnia's cheek is pale; and Cicero :Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes :As we have seen him in the Capitol, :Being cross'd in conference by some senators. CASSIUS. :Casca will tell us what the matter is. CAESAR. :Antonius,— ANTONY. :Caesar? CAESAR. :Let me have men about me that are fat; :Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights: :Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; :He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. ANTONY. :Fear him not, Caesar; he's not dangerous; :He is a noble Roman and well given. CAESAR. :Would he were fatter! But I fear him not: :Yet, if my name were liable to fear, :I do not know the man I should avoid :So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much; :He is a great observer, and he looks :Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays, :As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music: :Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort :As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit :That could be moved to smile at any thing. :Such men as he be never at heart's ease :Whiles they behold a greater than themselves; :And therefore are they very dangerous. :I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd :Than what I fear, for always I am Caesar. :Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf, :And tell me truly what thou think'st of him. Caesar and his Train. Casca stays. CASCA. :You pull'd me by the cloak; would you speak with me? BRUTUS. :Ay, Casca, tell us what hath chanced today, :That Caesar looks so sad. CASCA. :Why, you were with him, were you not? BRUTUS. :I should not then ask Casca what had chanced. CASCA. :Why, there was a crown offer'd him; and being offer'd him, :he put it by with the back of his hand, thus; and then the :people fell a-shouting. BRUTUS. :What was the second noise for? CASCA. :Why, for that too. CASSIUS. :They shouted thrice: what was the last cry for? CASCA. :Why, for that too. BRUTUS. :Was the crown offer'd him thrice? CASCA. :Ay, marry, was't, and he put it by thrice, every time gentler :than other; and at every putting-by mine honest neighbors :shouted. CASSIUS. :Who offer'd him the crown? CASCA. :Why, Antony. BRUTUS. :Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca. CASCA. :I can as well be hang'd, as tell the manner of it: it was :mere foolery; I did not mark it. I saw Mark Antony offer him a :crown;—yet 'twas not a crown neither, 'twas one of these :coronets;—and, as I told you, he put it by once: but, for all :that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it. Then he :offered it to him again: then he put it by again: but, to my :thinking, he was very loath to lay his fingers off it. And then :he offered it the third time; he put it the third time by; and :still, as he refused it, the rabblement shouted, and clapp'd :their chopt hands, and threw up their sweaty night-caps, and :uttered such a deal of stinking breath because Caesar refused :the crown, that it had almost choked Caesar, for he swooned and :fell down at it: and for mine own part, I durst not laugh for :fear of opening my lips and receiving the bad air. CASSIUS. :But, soft! I pray you. What, did Caesar swoon? CASCA. :He fell down in the market-place, and foam'd at mouth, and was :speechless. BRUTUS. :'Tis very like: he hath the falling-sickness. CASSIUS. :No, Caesar hath it not; but you, and I, :And honest Casca, we have the falling-sickness. CASCA. :I know not what you mean by that; but I am sure Caesar fell :down. If the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss him, :according as he pleased and displeased them, as they use to do :the players in the theatre, I am no true man. BRUTUS. :What said he when he came unto himself? CASCA. :Marry, before he fell down, when he perceived the common :herd was glad he refused the crown, he pluck'd me ope his :doublet, and offered them his throat to cut: an I had been a :man of any occupation, if I would not have taken him at a word, :I would I might go to hell among the rogues:—and so he fell. :When he came to himself again, he said, if he had done or said :any thing amiss, he desired their worships to think it was his :infirmity. Three or four wenches where I stood cried, "Alas, :good soul!" and forgave him with all their hearts. But there's :no heed to be taken of them: if Caesar had stabb'd their :mothers, they would have done no less. BRUTUS. :And, after that he came, thus sad away? CASCA. :Ay. CASSIUS. :Did Cicero say any thing? CASCA. :Ay, he spoke Greek. CASSIUS. :To what effect? CASCA. :Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face :again: but those that understood him smiled at one another and :shook their heads; but for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I :could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling :scarfs off Caesar's images, are put to silence. Fare you well. :There was more foolery yet, if could remember it. CASSIUS. :Will you sup with me tonight, Casca? CASCA. :No, I am promised forth. CASSIUS. :Will you dine with me tomorrow? CASCA. :Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner worth :the eating. CASSIUS. :Good; I will expect you. CASCA. :Do so; farewell both. CASCA. BRUTUS. :What a blunt fellow is this grown to be! :He was quick mettle when he went to school. CASSIUS. :So is he now in execution :Of any bold or noble enterprise, :However he puts on this tardy form. :This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, :Which gives men stomach to digest his words :With better appetite. BRUTUS. :And so it is. For this time I will leave you: :Tomorrow, if you please to speak with me, :I will come home to you; or, if you will, :Come home to me, and I will wait for you. CASSIUS. :I will do so: till then, think of the world.— Brutus. :Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see, :Thy honorable metal may be wrought, :From that it is disposed: therefore 'tis meet :That noble minds keep ever with their likes; :For who so firm that cannot be seduced? :Caesar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus; :If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius, :He should not humor me. I will this night, :In several hands, in at his windows throw, :As if they came from several citizens, :Writings all tending to the great opinion :That Rome holds of his name; wherein obscurely :Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at: :And after this let Caesar seat him sure; :For we will shake him, or worse days endure. Exit. SCENE III. The same. A street. and lightning. Enter, from opposite sides, CASCA, with his sword drawn, and CICERO. CICERO. :Good even, Casca: brought you Caesar home? :Why are you breathless, and why stare you so? CASCA. :Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth :Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero, :I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds :Have rived the knotty oaks; and I have seen :Th' ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam, :To be exalted with the threatening clouds: :But never till tonight, never till now, :Did I go through a tempest dropping fire. :Either there is a civil strife in heaven, :Or else the world too saucy with the gods, :Incenses them to send destruction. CICERO. :Why, saw you anything more wonderful? CASCA. :A common slave—you'd know him well by sight— :Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn :Like twenty torches join'd, and yet his hand :Not sensible of fire remain'd unscorch'd. :Besides,—I ha' not since put up my sword,— :Against the Capitol I met a lion, :Who glared upon me, and went surly by, :Without annoying me: and there were drawn :Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women, :Transformed with their fear; who swore they saw :Men, all in fire, walk up and down the streets. :And yesterday the bird of night did sit :Even at noonday upon the marketplace, :Howling and shrieking. When these prodigies :Do so conjointly meet, let not men say :"These are their reasons; they are natural"; :For I believe they are portentous things :Unto the climate that they point upon. CICERO. :Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time. :But men may construe things after their fashion, :Clean from the purpose of the things themselves. :Comes Caesar to the Capitol tomorrow? CASCA. :He doth, for he did bid Antonius :Send word to you he would be there to-morrow. CICERO. :Good then, Casca: this disturbed sky :Is not to walk in. CASCA. :Farewell, Cicero. Cicero. Cassius. CASSIUS. :Who's there? CASCA. :A Roman. CASSIUS. :Casca, by your voice. CASCA. :Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this! CASSIUS. :A very pleasing night to honest men. CASCA. :Who ever knew the heavens menace so? CASSIUS. :Those that have known the earth so full of faults. :For my part, I have walk'd about the streets, :Submitting me unto the perilous night; :And, thus unbraced, Casca, as you see, :Have bared my bosom to the thunder-stone; :And when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open :The breast of heaven, I did present myself :Even in the aim and very flash of it. CASCA. :But wherefore did you so much tempt the Heavens? :It is the part of men to fear and tremble, :When the most mighty gods by tokens send :Such dreadful heralds to astonish us. CASSIUS. :You are dull, Casca;and those sparks of life :That should be in a Roman you do want, :Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze, :And put on fear and cast yourself in wonder, :To see the strange impatience of the Heavens: :But if you would consider the true cause :Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts, :Why birds and beasts, from quality and kind; :Why old men, fools, and children calculate;— :Why all these things change from their ordinance, :Their natures, and preformed faculties :To monstrous quality;—why, you shall find :That Heaven hath infused them with these spirits, :To make them instruments of fear and warning :Unto some monstrous state. Now could I, Casca, :Name to thee a man most like this dreadful night; :That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars, :As doth the lion in the Capitol; :A man no mightier than thyself or me :In personal action; yet prodigious grown, :And fearful, as these strange eruptions are. CASCA. :'Tis Caesar that you mean; is it not, Cassius? CASSIUS. :Let it be who it is: for Romans now :Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors; :But, woe the while! our fathers' minds are dead, :And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits; :Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish. CASCA. :Indeed they say the senators to-morrow :Mean to establish Caesar as a king; :And he shall wear his crown by sea and land, :In every place save here in Italy. CASSIUS. :I know where I will wear this dagger then; :Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius: :Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong; :Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat: :Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, :Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron :Can be retentive to the strength of spirit; :But life, being weary of these worldly bars, :Never lacks power to dismiss itself. :If I know this, know all the world besides, :That part of tyranny that I do bear :I can shake off at pleasure. still. CASCA. :So can I: :So every bondman in his own hand bears :The power to cancel his captivity. CASSIUS. :And why should Caesar be a tyrant then? :Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf, :But that he sees the Romans are but sheep: :He were no lion, were not Romans hinds. :Those that with haste will make a mighty fire :Begin it with weak straws: what trash is Rome, :What rubbish, and what offal, when it serves :For the base matter to illuminate :So vile a thing as Caesar! But, O grief, :Where hast thou led me? I perhaps speak this :Before a willing bondman: then I know :My answer must be made; but I am arm'd, :And dangers are to me indifferent. CASCA. :You speak to Casca; and to such a man :That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand: :Be factious for redress of all these griefs; :And I will set this foot of mine as far :As who goes farthest. CASSIUS. :There's a bargain made. :Now know you, Casca, I have moved already :Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans :To undergo with me an enterprise :Of honorable-dangerous consequence; :And I do know by this, they stay for me :In Pompey's Porch: for now, this fearful night, :There is no stir or walking in the streets; :And the complexion of the element :Is favor'd like the work we have in hand, :Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible. CASCA. :Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste. CASSIUS. :'Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait; :He is a friend.— Cinna. Cinna, where haste you so? CINNA. :To find out you. Who's that? Metellus Cimber? CASSIUS. :No, it is Casca, one incorporate :To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna? CINNA. :I am glad on't. What a fearful night is this! :There's two or three of us have seen strange sights. CASSIUS. :Am I not stay'd for? tell me. CINNA. :Yes, :You are. O Cassius, if you could but win :The noble Brutus to our party,— CASSIUS. :Be you content. Good Cinna, take this paper, :And look you lay it in the praetor's chair, :Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this :In at his window; set this up with wax :Upon old Brutus' statue: all this done, :Repair to Pompey's Porch, where you shall find us. :Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there? CINNA. :All but Metellus Cimber, and he's gone :To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie :And so bestow these papers as you bade me. CASSIUS. :That done, repair to Pompey's theatre.— Cinna. Come, Casca, you and I will yet, ere day, :See Brutus at his house: three parts of him :Is ours already; and the man entire, :Upon the next encounter, yields him ours. CASCA. :O, he sits high in all the people's hearts! :And that which would appear offense in us, :His countenance, like richest alchemy, :Will change to virtue and to worthiness. CASSIUS. :Him, and his worth, and our great need of him, :You have right well conceited. Let us go, :For it is after midnight; and, ere day, :We will awake him, and be sure of him. Exeunt. Category:Article Subpages